Congress in punt formation on taxes, spending cuts

In less than five months, millions of Americans are slated to see a massive tax increase. Government spending is set to be slashed by $1.2 trillion. Presidential and congressional campaigns are screeching about which side is wrong on taxes while warning that something needs to be done soon.

But rather than take these issues head-on, it looks like Congress is gearing up to do what it does best: stall.

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Forget the posturing on the campaign trail and in the halls of Congress — it’s becoming clear that something substantive on taxes and spending is very unlikely to happen before year’s end, kicking the issues into next year.

Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, said an extension of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax breaks would give lawmakers the breathing room they need to thoughtfully consider a broader Tax Code overhaul.

“There’s a two-tier track here,” Tiberi said. “Give us a year — for purposes of doing tax reform next year — of keeping everything the same on the 01/03. Don’t let tax rates go up and give us the year to do tax reform.”

That two-track strategy is nothing new for this Congress. In fact, on almost every major piece of business it’s done — from the debt ceiling, to spending bills — it bought itself time with a short fix and pushed off bigger fiscal questions.

The reason: A deeply divided Congress sees hardly any agreement. And on the touchy questions of spending and taxes ahead of an election — things just get worse.

Two show votes — Wednesday’s House vote that extended tax rates for all income brackets, and the Senate’s vote last week, which hiked rates on top earners — illustrate just how deeply the parties are divided.

And quiet conversations around the Capitol — many of which are spilling into public view — expose divisions within both parties that only complicate the matter.

On Wednesday, after the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Finance Committee announced an agreement to extend billions of dollars in business and individual tax cuts through 2013 — itself a punt, of sorts — House Republicans voiced displeasure.

Tiberi said he wouldn’t be swayed by the deal hammered out by his Senate counterparts and even the Finance Committee’s decision to ditch wind tax credits at Mitt Romney’s urging — much to the chagrin of a broad swath of Midwestern lawmakers — drew little more than shrugs from House Republicans.

“Gov. Romney, President Obama, the Senate, they’ve got to do their thing, we’ll do our thing,” Tiberi told reporters. “We’re an independent body from the Senate. We’re an independent body from Gov. Romney.”

So much for unity with Boston.

Meanwhile, some Senate Republicans questioned why Romney made comments at all this week in opposition to the tax credit for wind energy production.

“It’s still a little cloudy in my mind as to where he really does stand on that,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee.

Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), considered by many of his peers one of the smartest tax minds, dismissed the idea of the House moving a package of business tax extenders similar to what the Senate has put together.

“That’s just the root of crony capitalism,” Mulvaney said. “If you have an effective lobby — oil 30 years ago, green energy now — you’re going to get your goodies from the federal government. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to deal with the reality.”

Apparently this administration isnt going to just Drive the car into the ditch like they blamed republicans for in 08 ( Pelosi Speaker then ). Now they seam determined to cart wheel the car into the ditch, ricochet off a windmill and head strait for the cliff.

Getting rid of the Bush tax cuts on the rich will only result in $220 billion in new revenue and will further create an uneven playing field between mom & pop and big companies . Why not close tax loopholes and restructure the tax laws to give people an incentive to work harder ?

You see , this arguement is not meant to be resolved that's why you see this issue feed into the fake left - right paradigm that's used to keep America divided so that the off shore banking cartel that is running and ruining America from behind the scenes .

Fast and furious recieved almost no press coverage . How come nobody is talking about how Holmes got into the theater to kill people ? He did NOT buy a ticket and did NOT shoot his way through the front door .

That leaves the fire exit door . Did he really kick it and it popped open ?

Come on , give up your fake left right struggle and help fight the new world order .

Obama and Reid stopped working for the American people after the 2010 elections embarrassed the Democrats and kicked their behinds. The Senate is where everything important dies because of Obama and Reid

All Obama and Reid do now is to lie continuously while stealing more from our children. Obama and Reid are directly responsible for millions of people still being out of work and in misery.